Transient
by yumemirunosekai
Summary: Levi prides himself in knowing that he's seen everything. Nothing can faze him and nothing can surprise him. He's perfection. He's never lost. He knows exactly what he's doing and he knows that he will always win. He's not the crazy one here - it's that fucking green-eyed brat. He's the sick fuck. He's the fucking psycho here, and Levi is determined to expose the true monster.


It's sweet.

The heady smell of cheap perfume hovers around the dark alleys in thick choking layers, and Levi is half reluctant to be allow himself to be led down to it's depths. The heels of his branded sleek black shoes click sharply against the stone pavement, and echo deafeningly down the empty alley.

He stops when he arrives at the strip of yellow tape fencing off the crime scene from the rest of the alley, and notes that there is already someone there.

"Erwin?"

A flashlight sweeps around and hits him directly in the eyes, causing him to wince and curse.

"Oh, Levi. Took you long enough."

When he finally blinks the glare from his eyes, Levi can see Erwin, and the M.E .bent over what looked like a heap of minced meat.

He lifts the yellow tape and enters the scene, barely sparing the mangled body a glance. He can see with the help of Erwin's flashlight that the victim still had some of her face left (most of it was torn off) and her body had been crushed into a form that defied the laws of nature - bent until bone and muscle stuck out in strange angles.

"This isn't humanly possible."

Levi doesn't need to look twice. He doesn't even flinch, but he cusses audibly when he feels the underside of his shoes tread on squishy brain matter. How filthy.

A tool or tools must have been used to disfigure the corpse in such a way, and Levi turns to Erwin for confirmation. He's always right after all, but Levi thinks that the other detective shaking his head is indeed a rather strange way of agreeing with his theory.

"Nope." Erwin sweeps the scene once again with his flashlight. "That was what I initially suspected, but no. There were no tools involved in this. Just a pair of human hands and brute strength. Victim's one of the prostitutes in the area, so we aren't supposed to waste resources on this case."

Levi doesn't believe him of course. There is no human alive who can physically achieve this feat without mechanical help. "Don't shit with me, Erwin. I'm tired and I just want to get out of this fucking rat-hole."

"Well, this time I'm not shitting with you." Erwin snaps, and purposely flashes the glaring white light from his torch at Levi's face.

Levi hisses and darts away. "Blood trail?" he asks, glaring nastily at Erwin.

"Yeah. It leads out of the alley and a little way up the street, but goes cold after that." Erwin answers. "Oh, and we have a suspect. He's already left with the first car to the station for interrogation." A wry smile spreads across Erwin's features. "This is an interesting one. You won't believe he did this once you see his face."

"Excuse me?"

"Levi, he's practically a kid." Erwin says,"Heck, I didn't believe it at first. But it's protocol, and the kid was found covered in the victim's blood. Head to foot."

Levi merely scoffs. He's dealt with innocent looking ones before. In his honest opinion, the most innocent ones are the ones who are most capable of monstrosities that can shock the nation.

Levi enjoys dealing with such people.

They remind him of him.

/

He's quickly taken back to the city and straight to the station, a place where he feels most at home. It's a dim and depressing building, which seriously need a new coat of paint, but since Levi flits in and out of his life until everything seems to blur into a montage of black and white - like in those stupid noir films - Levi barely notes the heavy atmosphere.

He lays a silken hand on the doorknob of the only interrogation room in the building and exhales.

He's seen everything. Nothing can surprise him. Nothing can faze him.

He pushes open the door, and for awhile, he wonders if Erwin had played some kind of sick joke on him, because this was just stupid. He feels his face fall for a split second before the mask fixes itself back in place.

"I haven't done anything wrong." spits the boy sitting - or more like cuffed to the straight-backed steel chair, pushed uncomfortably against the matching steel table in front of him. "What the fuck am I doing here?"

The brat is dressed in such a way that is beyond scandalous and very tacky- his makeup is thick and dark, focusing around his eyes and making his face appear paler than should even be possible; and the ripped white top shows more skin than most people would be comfortable with.

Levi isn't particularly affected by this, but his interest in the case has just upped a notch, all because of the angelic looking spitfire sitting opposite him.

"Are you mute?" the boy asks, none too politely, and Levi raises an eyebrow. If the kid kept his foul mouth shut, he'd have people falling over their own feet for him. Erwin was right. He looked so innocent - so fucking, inhumanely angelic - that no one would believe he was the killer even if he confessed.

Levi can't help a smirk that lifts him lips as he reaches for a plain brown file lying on the table and flips through it, eyes scanning the contents briefly. "Eren Jaeger?"

"Congratulations, you know my name." snaps Eren sarcastically, slouching back in his chair and glowering up at Levi, who looks barely amused as he lowers himself into the seat opposite.

"You are the one who found the victim." a statement, not a question.

Eren stiffens and doesn't speak. Levi takes this opportunity to continue.

"Did you kill her?"

Immediately, Eren's mascara rimmed eyes flicks toward him and there is a strange, a strange accusing light behind them that Levi can't quite pin down.

"No. I didn't do it."

There is a suffocating silence where Levi takes his time to survey the impassive look on the boy's face. He then gets to his feet and starts circling him, taking in his clothes and his too-tight jeans where Levi can see the boy's crotch pressed rather indecently against the restraining fabric.

Eren seems to flinch and bristle under Levi's scrutiny, and under closer inspection, he notices faint and healing bruises, speckling his wrists, neck, collarbone. And through the ripped parts of his shirt, the expanse of milky skin (especially near his waist) were peppered with distinct finger bruises - clear evidence of the boy being manhandled almost everyday.

Levi hums thoughtfully.

"You are a prostitute." Again, it's a statement and not a question.

The boy neither confirms nor denies this, but the tension in his shoulders increases tenfold.

"Maybe, maybe not." mutters Eren, his voice low and rather strained.

The sarcasm that laces Eren's tone is thick, but Levi just pushes on. "Nothing in your file says anything about this."

"Well, who in their right minds would put down details like that into the city files?" Eren spits. "I'm not retarded, alright? I know the stupid law treats people like me like sewer scum. I wouldn't even be able to shop for necessities if word got out that I'm —"

"A whore." Levi finishes easily, disregarding Eren's immediate flinch at the words. But Levi can see the sense behind Eren's explanation. If anyone found out about Eren's status, he'd most likely be pelted with rocks if he dared enter any shop or store in the city.

"Okay, fair enough," Levi says, still eyeing Eren in interest. His keeps his tone coolly detached. Levi doesn't really care about what Eren is. Naturally, he doesn't particularly like prostitutes either, but he doesn't necessarily loathe them. True, he finds them disgusting - inhumane almost, because how can a person willingly offer their body for mindless sex? It made no sense.

He finds them degrading, but to loathe? Not really.

Levi isn't one who would willingly join a public display of humiliating a person, but let's say if he happened to see a prostitute being openly ridiculed, he'd most probably look the other way.

Levi allows his eyes to drift back to the file in his hands, aware that Eren is watching him rather tentatively. "It says here that you have no parents, and that you live alone?"

Eren nods.

"You're a student." Levi's eyes widen slightly and he nods in approval as he digests the information before him. "This is unexpected. You go to university. Impressive."

Levi doesn't miss the flash of pride and the sudden blush that creeps to Eren's cheeks. he smirks softly. "Your grades are pretty good too." Levi raises his eyes to look directly at Eren for the first time. "Really impressive, for a brat."

Levi takes awhile to digest this before continuing. "You don't seem afraid."

Eren meets his gaze. Challenging him. "Well, are you going to do anything to me?" he asks, scowling. "You don't even have proof I did anything."

Levi was waiting for him to say that.

"Did you do something?"

Eren opens his mouth to answer, stills for a fraction of a second, then closes it. He seems to have realised that Levi had been baiting him all along, and Levi smirks upon noting the panic that grips the kid before him.

"Did you kill her?"

"NO!"

And Levi slams his palms on the table, making the entire structure rattle. The papers from Eren's file litters the ground around him, but Levi could hardly give a fuck. Eren jolts violently against the vice-like grip of the cuffs that hold him to the steel chair.

"You conniving little whore." Levi hisses, and it just brings a sadistic smile to his lips when the fear in Eren's eyes start to show more clearly with every word he says. "You lie to me again, and I'll rip your tongue out."

"I-I'm not lying!" And Levi can tell how disgusted Eren is with the slight stutter in his tone. The brat's afraid of him. Good. He should fucking be.

"You were found covered in her blood." Levi responds smoothly. "Care to explain why?"

"I was trying to help her!"

"Then did you see who did it?"

"…No, but I-"

"Did anyone see her alive with you trying to help her?"

"No! But-"

"Then you have no solid alibi."

"I DIDN'T DO IT."

"Liar."

Eren is panting hard, and he's shaking terribly. Levi can feel his smile widen, and he tries to suppress it. God, there is no feeling as liberating as watching scum squirm under his feet.

Levi checks his watch, the turns back to look at Eren's peaky face.

"Normally, right now's about the time I tell the suspect to get their sorry arses lawyered up, but that doesn't apply for you, does it?" Levi says, and he relishes in watching Eren's pallid complexion pale to the point where he looks almost ghost-like, eyes too round and too big for his small, angular face.

Eren remains silent, almost as though he's giving up.

"You get one phone call, and since you have no attorney, one will be appointed for you." Levi says smoothly. "I don't really give a rat's ass who you go crying to for help because-" Levi leans forward and snatches Eren chin, forcing the boy to look at him. "-I'll have your ass hauled off to lifetime in the pit, you sick little fuck."

There is something that passes through Eren's glassy eyes, and Levi is startled to see a sudden burning fury that makes the boy's cheeks flush.

Eren yanks his face away and spits at Levi.

"Fuck you, you miserable dick." he snarls, hackles rising. "All you cops know is what you see through those fucking excuse for pair of eyes. All you know is to listen to your stupid orders and follow every whim. Like loyal fucking dogs. Don't you have a mind of your own to work on, or has it just rotted away to nothing?"

Wrong move.

A very, very wrong move.

Levi expression remains neutral, as he wipes the spit from his cheek with the back of his hand. He looks back at Eren, and his expression is as cold and hard as marble.

It happens so quick.

Levi is at Eren's side in a second, and he rests his foot on the rim of the steel back chair before shoving it over with all his might. It lands at an awkward angle, and Eren screams when right arm smashes into the stone floor.

Levi stomps down on the side of the chair that is facing upwards, tearing another scream from Eren. The boy is lying on his side, arms still cuffed to the chair, with one side of it digging into the flesh of his right arm, sandwiching it to the ground.

Levi would have continued.

He would have continued until the kid screamed his throat dry, because how dare he.

How fucking dare he - a whore - spit on him? He deserves to be punished.

The metal door to the interrogation room is slammed open, but Levi barely registers the shouts that fill the entire room. Several pairs of arms grab him, but all Levi can see is the curled up body of Eren, looking so white against the dark tiles of the interrogation room floor. He's being dragged away, away, away. Eren's body becomes smaller and smaller, and Levi sees someone straightening the chair and pulling Eren back upright.

Another person is checking his arm. Eren is biting his lip - it's red and full - looking soft and pliant under the harsh white lights. There are tears gathering at the corners of his eyes, but they never fall. They hang there, like minuscule glimmering ornaments, so delicate and fragile that Levi can't look away.

Eren's arm is twisted funny, elbow is bent into a strange position. There are 32 bones in the human arm; 29 in the lower arm ( including the hand), and only one in the upper arm (Levi isn't sure where the remaining two go). He hopes he broke at least one of them.

He is so engrossed with watching Eren. It's fascinating actually, to watch how much fight the kid has left. Eren refuses to break apart. He refuses to admit his crime. He refuses to submit.

Levi is starting to like this kid more and more.

But the door is closed in his face, and he's immediately face to face with the stupid Head of Human Resources.

"What the fuck was going through your head back there, Levi?" hisses the man, "You crazy sonofabitch."

Levi blinks up and smiles politely, which is wrong in so many ways. "Oh, hey there, Pixis." he says, and the sunshine-y demeanour makes the other man cringe.

"Don't smile at me like that, Levi." Pixis says, suppressing a shiver that runs up his spine. "It makes you look more of a psychotic bastard than you already are."

Levi's face immediately rearranges itself into his usual look of indifference. "Sorry. It's a habit for me to smile around you Human Resources people." Levi tucks a stray lock of hair behind his ear and straightens the collar of his suit. "So, what is it you want?"

Pixis splutters, but he honestly isn't surprised. Trust Levi to act all nonchalant and I-don't-give-a-shit right after physically abusing a suspect. "You do realise what you did back there is a violation of the Human Rights Act, don't you?"

Levi appears to be thinking deeply. "No. Not really."

"And those interrogation methods were not exactly professional if you ask me."

"What makes you say that?"

"You swore more than 5 times." Pixis deadpans.

"So?"

Pixis sighs, and digs the heels of his palms into his eyes. "Levi, please. I am begging you here — Get your shit together." He rubs his temples and wills himself not to scratch the face off the coolly composed man before him. "You can't just- just go all bat shit crazy on suspects. I'll lose my fucking job if this keeps up."

"I'm just doing my job."

"So am I!" Pixis snaps. "And that includes keeping your psychotic ass in line, you retard."  
He finally sighs heavily and turns away. "I catch you manhandling suspects again, I'm putting you on suspension for a month."

Levi is left to dwell on Pixis's words in silence. Honestly, he hardly cares what people thinks of him. He's going to do things his way, and nobody, not even Pixis or Erwin is going to stop him.

But it doesn't matter really, because no one really can.

/

Eren's put on trial, and Levi is ecstatic.

As the days in court dragged on, Eren got visibly thinner and thinner, until his eyes became so sunken, it looked as though he had on permanent mascara. His cheekbones stood out terribly in his pallid face, and basically, he looked ready to succumb to whatever death Levi threw at him.

Today is the last day.

Eren is either going to be given a minimum of 20 years in the local prison, or lifetime in the pit. Levi is praying for the pit. He's sent god knows how many sickos to that place, and he revels in the thought of them spending the rest of their miserable lives writhing around in darkness and filth.

No one in the pit will ever be granted parole. It's the only prison built underground, with barely inhibitable 20 by 20 cells with no windows and no ventilation. Levi is sitting — the epitome of an impeccable detective as he awaits the jury's decision.

"The jury has reached a verdict."

"Will the defendant please stand."

Eren is trembling so hard that his cuffs rattle around his thin wrists. Levi is teetering on the edge of euphoria.

"The jury finds Eren Jaeger, not guilty of first degree murder."

There is a silence, then a roaring sound. Levi's face doesn't even twitch. He looks over at Eren, just in time to see the boy's legs give way, and he plummets to the floor.

Levi looks on with a frosty gaze, and the cold fury that burns inside makes him want to plunge his fist into the Judge's face. People surround Eren's unconscious body, and he is taken away on a stretcher.

"Levi?" someone is calling him, but the person's voice is lightyears away.

Something isn't right. Levi thinks. What is that? Why does it feel wrong? Oh, that right, the fucking jury deemed the whore 'NOT GUILTY'. Levi has never lost a case. This is unacceptable. Utterly ridiculous. He's seen everything. He knows when someone is lying. And Eren is definitely lying.

"Levi!" This time, the person sounds closer.

Why is everyone so blind and stupid? Can't they see Eren is —

"Jesus Christ, Levi." yells Erwin, and Levi is dragged from stewing in his thoughts back to reality.

'W-What is it?" asks Levi, and he feels slightly light-headed — probably because of how unexplainably furious he feels at the moment.

"You're bleeding!"

Levi blinks blearily. "What?"

Erwin sighs and forcefully unclenches Levi's hands, which had unconsciously curled so tightly into fists, that his nails ripped open the flesh of his palm. Blood trickles down his palm in red rivulets, and the coppery smell just makes his head spin more.

"Looks pretty bad." Erwin says, sighing heavily. He has a pair of black frames perched on his nose, and a sheaf of files clipped underneath his arm as he inspects Levi's hands. "I suggest you go get them looked at, just in case it gets infected."

"That's unnecessary."Levi deadpans, but then a smile breaks across his lips, and Erwin shivers. "But I think I just might do that."

"A normal thank you would have sufficed." Erwin says, peeved. He leaves Levi with a wave and a loud 'DON'T STRESS OVER THE CASE. IT'S OVER.'

Levi nods, because yes, the case is indeed over. It's likely that the murder will be shoved into some dusty box and evidence taped away and dumped in the archives below. No one wants to spend more than needed on the murder of a mere prostitute. How like them — to close a case when no killer is caught, just because the victim is low enough to spit on.

But Levi isn't going to let this drop. This case is just too interesting and the fact that Eren slipped right between his fingers is like a taunt, a provocation — a big 'I BEAT LEVI RIVAILLE ', and Levi isn't going to just suck up defeat.

Eren fucking brought this onto himself, and Levi is determined to make every waking minute a living nightmare for him.

/

Levi regrets going to the station infirmary. He's never going to listen to Erwin's advice ever again.

Some stupid nurse with glittery eyeshadow and too-red lips is on duty, and the way she flutters her eyelashes and sticks her chest out at him makes Levi want to retch.

She takes all the time in the world to clean his hands and bandage them. Her skin is flaky and dry, making Levi's hair stand whenever she drags her man-fingers across his wrist. Levi needs to focus on something, anything, to stop him from strangling this bitch.

His eyes land on a stack of medical records, and the name scribbled on the topmost one catches his eye.

Levi snatches his hands away, and reaches for the brown file folder.

"Why is this here?" he asks, eyes never leaving the passport sized picture of Eren, at the top lefthand corner of the document. His face is thin, Levi notes. Angular cheekbones and a sharp chin. Perhaps his hair is a little too flat here, short black locks falling around his forehead messily.

His eyes are sunken (not as badly as the last few days), but it still manages to give Eren a corpse-like look. But what really draws his attention is Eren lips. Even looking thin and emaciated doesn't alter the fact that his lips look like soft pink velvet.

Soft and pliable, soft and pliable.

The nurse peers over at the file. "This? Oh, the poor, poor dear was so sick!" she gushes, and Levi chokes on his saliva at her tone.

"When he passed out and was brought in here, I did a full checkup for him." The nurse suddenly sighs heavily, looking terribly sympathetic, a feeling Levi is completely foreign to.

"The kid's malnourished and dehydrated. He's got bruises, and scars all over as well as unhealed wounds — some infected too. I believe he also has two stomach ulcers., one of them is recent — probably a few days ago, which explains the malnourishment, 'cause it would have been torture to eat. " She suddenly cringes. "But worst of all is that he showed signs of- um, tearing at the —" She pauses. "— you know. That place."

"Signs of rape." Levi states nonchalantly.

The nurse winces. Levi is just glad she's stopped her ridiculous flirting.

"Yes," she replies. "I've had an ambulance over to send him to the local hospital for further examination."

Levi doesn't wait to be dismissed before he's out the door and making his way to the carpark, Eren's file in his hand.

Perhaps going to the infirmary was a pretty good decision after all.

/

The local hospital is a miserable, miserable place — too sterile and too quiet. The smell of antiseptic and chloroform invade his personal space before Levi passes through the automatic doors. The chipped tiled floors and yellowing wallpaper reminds him of flaking skin, and the flickering fluorescent lights overhead does little to discourage this.

Levi doesn't even have to ask for Eren, because he sees a group of doctors in dull white lab coats huddled together by the nurse' station, talking in low, grim voices.

"What are we going to do with him?"

"The police sent him, but we are only holding him for one night. I'm not wasting good rooms on fucking whores."

"Shut up! We don't even know that. Besides, the police didn't tell us so, and his file is clean."

"It's not that hard to omit such information. The system is pretty rotten."

"Please, I'm confidant he's a prostitute. Everything, from the tearing to the bruises around his waist."

"That's hardly evidence. He could have been raped."

"Perhaps, but he's showing early signs of syphilis. I've given him an injection already, so he should be fine."

"What? You wasted antibiotics on a whore? Are you mental?"

"Well, we can't just leave it!"

"I could have."

"Nevermind that now. Just- he won't even tell us where he fucking lives. And we need the beds. He can't stay here."

"Forget it. We check him out tomorrow. I don't care where he goes, as long as it's not here. I don't want to be breathing the same air as that kid."

Levi finds himself smiling his usual smile as he rudely interrupts the doctors' conversation. It takes 60 seconds for him to chew out all 5 doctors, another 20 to convince them to let him take Eren, and 10 more to sign Eren out in his name and have one of the doctors direct him to the boy's room.

Eren is awake, propped up by large pillows. He's staring out the window with a blank expression, not realising that someone is watching him. Very intently for that matter. Eren's right arm is tightly bandaged, and there are also bandages peeking out from the top of his hospital gown which is cut too wide, or perhaps it's because Eren's just too thin at the moment.

Levi's eyes fall on a glass of water placed ridiculously far from he bed on top of the dresser near the door. Either the nurses are really lazy, or they are deliberately spiting Eren, who would have to get up and walk a considerable distance if he needed a drink.

Also, the nurses' call button that is supposed to be on the bed of the patient is apparently lying at least 10 feet away from Eren, the wire ripped off the steel bed rail and draped across the EKG machine in a corner of the room, far from reach.

Poor kid.

So many people hate you.

He makes his presence known by stalking in, and his shoes that click against the tiled floor makes Eren jump violently. When he sees Levi, the panic and fear that flashes across Eren's face is obvious. His eyes dart around the room frantically, landing on the call button across the room. He looks as though he was prepared to make a dash for it, but then something akin to defeat shutters over the fear, damping out all previous emotions.

He sighs in defeat and closes his eyes.

Levi watches Eren in silence, an unreadable expression on his face.

Eren opens them after awhile, in slight surprise when Levi makes no move to hurt him. Levi can see confusion and distrust reflected in Eren's expression as the panic melts away, and he just stares, somehow entranced.

It's eons before Levi walks close to the bed. Eren cringes away involuntarily, and immediately there is anger n his features, as though he was furious at himself for allowing Levi to affect him this badly.

It makes sense. Levi did almost snap his arm in half in their previous one on one meeting.

Levi dumps a bag on Eren's bed, and the boy yelps quietly. Levi raises a delicate brow.

"It's not a bomb." he says flatly.

Eren turns his gaze upwards to meet his. Levi breaks it before those eyes can drawn him in further. "Get dressed." he says curtly before walking away from the bed. And as a precaution, just to cull Eren's stubborn streak and to remind him of who is in charge here, he adds over his shoulder, "Don't make me repeat myself."

He waits for the unmistakable sound crinkling plastic and rustle of fabric before he exits the room completely, closing the door behind him.

/

It's just a plain white long-sleeved tee and faded jeans, but Levi has to look away when Eren finally exits his room fully dressed.

"Come on." Levi says, and as expected, Eren doesn't oblige.

"Why?" he asks, almost spitting the words through his teeth.

Levi suddenly feels like laughing. He turns to face Eren. "Because I'm the one checking you out of the hospital. And since you refused to give the doctors your real address, and the one in your file is of a building demolished 20 years ago, you're living with me."

There is a sharp intake of breath.

"No." Eren hisses.

Levi closes his eyes, and counts to one hundred. "This isn't a choice, shitty brat. You are sick. If the syphilis doesn't kill you first, the prostitution and stomach ulcers will. You jump back into whoring around in your current condition—" Eren flinches at this. "— you'll be lucky if you're alive by next month, shit-for-brains."

Eren doesn't speak. He seems to be processing Levi's words. "I have syphilis?" is his first question.

Levi just focuses on his too-red lips (they are even more interesting than the brat's fucking too- blue - or is it green?- eyes.)

Soft and pliant, soft and pliant.

"Yes, but it's in the early stages, and you have been given treatment." Levi answers.

Again, Eren lapses into silence. "I didn't know you gave a fuck about my health. " he suddenly says, sneering. "How nice of you." He spits.

Something must have changed in Levi's demeanour at this point because the fear is back in Eren eyes. "No." Levi says, coolly. "I don't give a fuck about your health, brat. The only reason I'm telling you this is because I trust you have common sense, to care about your own health, and listen to me. You can either come with me, understanding that I am willing to provide you with a roof above your head and actually let you eat at my table while you recuperate; or," Levi pauses, his gaze partly crazed now. "-you can choose to resist, and I will have you dragged kicking and screaming into my car, in a fucking straightjacket, and I might just decide to make your stay at my place not so pleasant. Either way is fine with me. You choose, Eren."

/

5 minutes later, Eren is seated in the passenger seat of Levi's Merce as the older man, sporting a strange smile, drives away from the hospital parking lot.

/

Levi lives alone.

His apartment is reasonably large, furnished in detached colours of black and white. Eren steps in hesitantly after Levi, who locks and bolts the door before setting the alarm. Levi brushes past Eren into the living room and pulls open the third drawer on a large black filing cabinet with a plain glass top. He slips Eren's personal file into the section marked 'J - Medical' and closes it with a click.

Eren is still staring at the living room when Levi turns to look at him.

"What?" Levi asks, when Eren shivers.

"Nothing." Eren admits, shaking his head as his eyes driest across the black leather couch and plain glass coffee table. "It's just-" he stops, unsure if he should continue.

"Stop freaking, shitty brat." Levi says crisply as he makes his way to the bar across the room. "I'm not going to hurt you."

At this, Eren looks round with a 'what the fuck' expression on his face. Levi ignores it as his fingers work quickly with tipping ice into his glass and filling it with golden liquid. "I don't bring home my work with me." Levi says as though it explained everything. "So I won't do what I do at work here. I don't want to bring it here." Levi brings the glass to his lips. He watches Eren's confused expression over the rim.

"It?"

Levi doesn't answer. Whether he heard Eren or not is unknown.

"So? What were you about to say?"

Eren waits severals seconds before speaking. "I just wanted to point out, that this place doesn't look lived in."

Levi raises a brow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that— nevermind."

Levi is about to question Eren further, but he stops when he realises that the boy is having difficulty standing, and he's slightly hunched over. Levi places his glass down on a coaster and gestures at Eren to follow him.

"You'll be sleeping here."

He leads the way to a sparsely furnished bedroom. There is a kind bed against the wall, a armoire, a full-length mirror in a corner, and strangely enough, a piano.

"Wait," Eren says, eyes narrowing. "Isn't this your bedroom?"

Levi is impressed. "How did you know?"

"Your spare gun is lying on the bedside table."

Observant indeed, Levi thinks.

"Why am I sleeping here?" Eren demands, and there is an edge in his tone.

"Where else would you rather sleep? The couch? Forget it."

Eren is contemplating everything with a slightly nervous look. "You- You do know I can't—"

"I'm not prepared to sink that low." Levi interrupts coldly.

The brat. The fucking brat's lips.

Too red. Just a little too red.

Soft and pliant, soft and pliant.

Levi bites his tongue.

Eren clamps his lips shut in a tight line. And suddenly looks ashamed. "Sorry." he mumbles, and Levi is taken aback at how docile he sounds. "It's just that when guys ask me to share their bed, it normally for—"

There is an awkward silence that hangs in the air. Levi just sighs. "Understandable." he says. "You are a whore after all."

Again, Eren cringes at the word. "It's not like I wanted to be." he mutters. Levi chooses to disregard the insult rising in his throat and moves forwards to grip Eren by the arm. His arm is so thin. So terribly thin. Levi drops him on the bed unceremoniously, butt first.

Eren is about to protest the manhandling, when Levi hooks his arm around Eren's legs and heaves his bare feet onto the silky sheets. Eren shudders at the feeling of rich textile against his skin.

"Get some sleep." Levi says. "I'm sure you had none in the hospital. I'll bring in your dinner later, and if don't don't finish it, I'm stuffing it down your throat."

Eren is staring at him again with that stupid look. "Stop looking at me like that, you little shit." Levi hisses, and roughly yanks the sheets from under Eren, making him fall onto his back against the soft pillows with a loud yelp. With surprising gentleness, Levi proceeds to tuck Eren in. In complete shock, Eren lets him.

Eren stops him as he prepares to leave the room. Levi pauses at the threshold and peers over his shoulder.

"Why?" Eren asks.

And there we go. The long awaited question.

Levi smiles a smile that sends a thousand pins and needles up Eren's spine.

"Because I'm not finished with you yet."

/

Levi takes Eren to the station early next morning, where he is cornered by Pixis and Erwin. Levi has to lock them out of the interrogation room before he rounds on a very panicky Eren.

By the time he's finished, Eren had vomited at least three times.

He still refuses to admit that he's the killer.

Levi hates this stubbornness. Why won't he admit it?

Pixis almost has a seizure when he finds out the hospital released Eren into Levi's care. "YOU LET HIM GO WITH A FUCKING PSYCHO." Is what the man yells into the phone after dialling up the Emergency Ward.

But since Levi is the only one willing to look after Eren, and the kid has no family and no one to look care for him, Pixis reluctantly agrees that it's for the best, not without several threats of, 'If I see a single scratch on the kid, you can kiss you job goodbye.'

Back at his place, Eren throws a flying fit, and it's hours before he calms down. When he does, Levi is unable to get close to him without the having the boy quaking in fear and dry retching into the carpet, but no matter what Levi does to him, he still refuses to break.

A fucking month of dragging him back and forth, and yet Eren doesn't crack. His ulcers aren't any better, probably because of all the vomiting, but being under Levi's 'care' has helped fill in what used to be all skin and bones.

Somehow, Eren seems to become numb to Levi's treatment. It is as though he's gradually getting used to the routine of getting brutally interrogated every day, 7 to 5, then being taken back home, where Levi feeds him and soothes his wounds. It's weird.

Levi wonders if he's damaging Eren's psyche one day when the boy walks up to him one morning as he prepares to swallow his usual dose of alcohol in coffee, and looks at him with this blank expression and asks, "Hey, do you hear a bug flying around?"

Levi doesn't know what to make of this. He drops the matter when Eren doesn't bring the question up again, until Monday of the following week, when he asks the same question while Levi is busy cleaning up the kitchen sink that seems to be stained in dark brown dirt for some reason.

"No. I don't. Now shut up and stop shitting with me." Levi finally says, not looking up from his task. "And are you the one using up all the hand-soap?" he adds, when he catches sight of the heap of empty soap bottles in the dustbin next to the sink.

Eren looks at him weird.

".…Yes…"

"Well, don't do it." Levi says.

Eren doesn't answer, but after that day, the soap bottles stop disappearing, and Eren never brings up the weird question ever again.

/

The brutal interrogations finally stop, when a murder, also of a female prostitute, crops up one day. Like the previous one, she is ripped to ribbons, and Levi just stares and stares at the body when he sees it. There are flies buzzing around the mangled flesh.

Eren is awake when Levi arrives home. The first thing Eren says when he sees Levi is "Where were you—"

But Levi doesn't let him finish, because Eren needs to shut up.

Shut up, and just shut up.

It's easy, because Levi is stronger, albeit shorter, and he has the boy pinned to a wall in seconds.

It's soft, Levi thinks. And also sweet — like toffee apples and ripe cherries. Prostitutes are disgusting. They should taste like the sewer scum that they are, so why? Why does Eren taste so fucking delicious?

When they finally break apart for air, Eren's lithe body is hitched up high against the wall. "What the fuck are you doing?" he pants, eyes heavy lidded.

Levi presses harder up against Eren, and he whimpers at the sudden friction against his crotch. "Another prostitute was murdered today." Levi says, never removing his eyes from Eren's. "It's the same killer."

At once, Eren's breath hitches. "W-What?" he whispers, and Levi wonders why he looks so horrified. "H-How—"

"But you didn't do it." Levi says, and Eren looks down at him, frowning. He has his palms on Levi's shoulders, and his legs are wrapped around the man's slender waist. "Why wasn't it you? I was so sure it was you. I'm never wrong."

Levi looks incredibly lost— lost and so creepily vulnerable that Eren digs his blunt nails harder into the flesh of his shoulders. The pain makes Levi blink at least. He then lets his lashes droop and dips down to kiss a spot at the corner of Levi's lips.

"I told you it wasn't me." Eren says quietly. Levi's hands grip tightly onto his waist. This Eren os different. This Eren isn't the one lying broken and weak-looking against the yellowing sheets on the sterile hospital bad. He's harder to read, to understand because he knows how to hide from Levi.

Five months with living with him can probably do that to you.

"You are no longer a suspect." Levi says, and he catches Eren's bottom lip, nibbling the tender flesh there.

Soft and pliant. Soft and pliant.

"I never was," Eren says, shaking his head. "I'm sure you realised that some time ago. You aren't stupid. You just let your obsession get the better of you."

Levi wants to deny it. The most logical explanation to why he kept hold of Eren because he thought the kid was the killer. That was all. There was no such thing as obsession, because Levi isn't like that. Those interrogations, they were nothing but a means to get Eren to admit to his crime. They were not some kind of sick release for him because all those days with the younger boy, all Levi wanted to do was to fuck him senseless.

The nights he spends pressed to the far end of the bed, getting up at intervals to check whether Eren would still be curled up next to him — it was because Levi was afraid the kid would flee. If Eren ran, he'd have lost his prime suspect, and that wouldn't be good now would it? It isn't because he feels bad for wrecking the kid's mental sanity. It isn't because he feels guilty, and it most certainly isn't because he needs Eren beside him.

It was all professional procedure, and not some psychotic need for control — control over Eren who would not bend the way Levi wanted him to.

"Do you want to leave?" Levi asks, "Because you can."

Eren just gazes at him with those same black-brown eyes. "Do you want me to go?"

"I asked you a question."

"And I'm not answering it, because that's a question you should ask yourself. Do you want me to leave? It's a simple yes or no."

Levi doesn't answer. He's not going to dignify that with an answer. Eren is a filthy whore, and Levi allowed him into his house, sleep in his bed, and share his food. Eren has just entered his life and completely screwed over his mind, with his fucking gem-like eyes and lips that feel like wet feathers, soft and pliant.

Soft and pliant. Soft and pliant.

The answer should be clear enough.

/

In the heated haze of sweaty skin against skin, low moans and guttural groans Eren reaches up to shell of Levi's ear, lips brushing the soft flesh there as his nails rake across Levi's slick back.

"Do you hear a bug flying around?"

Levi barely hears the question, wrapped in the cacophony of pleasurable sounds he has never heard before.

/

When Eren opens his eyes, he is sore but satiated.

His heart sinks when he sees the empty space next to him. Groaning a little, he rises and tugs on a pair of sweats that hang low on his hips, bruised with Levi's finger prints all over. It's all Levi, Levi, Levi around him. He even smells like the man — a mixture of cologne, musk and sex.

Quietly, he pushes open the bedroom door a crack, and he can see Levi in the kitchen, his back to the entrance. With practised motions, Eren closes the door quietly and moves toward the armoire and pulls it open. Levi's freakishly neat arrangement of black and white shirts and slacks greet him. He bends down and rummages through a heap of neatly folded towels and pulls out a gym bag filled with bleach, scrubs, large rolls of garbage bags, steel wool, and bottles of hydrochloric acid as well as camomile and jasmine hand-soap.

It's heavy, but he's done this plenty of times, ever since he started living with Levi. It was easy at first, but he can't believe he actually forgot to clean up this time. It would never do if he forgets another time.

He slings the heavy bag across his shoulder and pushes open the door. Levi is still in the kitchen. Eren swallows the lump in his throat and approaches the man. He's at the sink, water turned on at full blast and splashing out of the marble basin.

Eren wonders why he feels so afraid. He should be used to this. He's done this before. It's fine.

"Levi?" he calls out, tentatively.

"What?" Levi replies, over the sound of gushing water. There are empty bottles of soap chucked haphazardly to one side, and the heady smell of camomile and jasmine is choking.

"Do you here a bug flying around?" Eren asks, carefully.

The man stills, his hands are left under the tap, unmoving, as though he were listening for something. He doesn't turn around, nor does he answer, but his hand slowly reaches up and swats at the air next to his ear. He shakes head a little, and swats at the air in front of his face.

Eren watches as Levi gazes around him, eyes darting around the room and swatting thin air at random areas around his head, before he resumes scrubbing his hands. The water runs dark burgundy around the white marble, disappearing with a soft 'glug, glug' sound as it flows down the drain.

Quietly, Eren backs out of the kitchen.

Levi will then proceed to take shower. A long, long shower, before sleeping until dawn. He will remember nothing when he wakes up.

Eren lugs the heavy sports bag out the door of the apartment, using wet-wipes to clean up the smudges of blood left of the handle and the rails. Occasionally, there'll be a random drop of blood, or a dark smudge at certain intervals along the way. Eren cleans up every single one of them.

Levi's trails are not easy to follow, so it isn't a surprise to Eren why no one noticed them. Soon, he arrives at the alley between Levi's apartment and the building next to it. He smells it first, because the air turns thick and wet as he closes into his destination — Eren chokes and he has to hold his breath as he approaches the mutilated corpse behind the dumpster. He's a little worried. Last week was at least several blocks down the street, and the week before was in one of the backroads leading to the slums. Levi is choosing hunting grounds closer and closer to his apartment. This isn't good.

But Eren will worry about that later.

He proceeds to do what he always did, ever since he realised that everything was Levi. The murderer — Levi. The righteous detective — Levi. The lonely man — Levi. It was all him, a three in one combination that soon spiralled out of control. Eren wonders what would have happened if Levi hadn't taken him in. Would Levi have continued murdering without really knowing that he's the actual killer? How long would he be chasing himself? What if someone discovers that it's him?

It's obvious that Levi's already unstable psyche was the cause of this all — including the first murder. Eren isn't sure how the man held out all those years, living such a detached life.

Eren thinks what his life would have been if hadn't been caught as a suspect, if Levi hadn't been the one to deal with him. Would he still be holed up in the stuffy brothel down in the slums?

Holding his breath, Eren first slips on the scrubs and yanks out several plastic bags. He picks up the shredded flesh and bone piece by piece, flies buzzing around him, and stuffs them into the bags. It's hard work, and he almost retches in the process, but he has to do it. He must. Because if Levi is caught, Eren will be all alone again. Levi is the closest thing he's ever come to- to-

To what?

To love?

To care for?

No. It just something he's grown to need. It more of a requirement than a want.

Eren proceeds to pour bleach over the large pool of almost dried blood, and he scrubs away with the steel wool, rinsing with more bleach. When he's satisfied with his work, Eren dumps the used steel wool and empty bleach bottle back into another plastic bag.

He then takes everything and makes his way to an abandoned construction site not far from Levi's apartment building, just where the road joins to the slums downtown. Perhaps the only good thing about the murder scene being so close to Levi's apartment is that Eren doesn't have to drag bodies halfway across the place just to get to this construction site. The place is littered with junk, but Eren searches for the large ceramic tub shoved into the corner of a pile of rubble.

He throws everything in, the body parts, plastic bags, and bloodied utensils into the tub. Stepping back to catch his breath for a moment, Eren then extracts several bottles of hydrochloric acid from his gym bag. It's amazing just how easy it is to swipe several bottles from the forensics lab down in the station when no one is looking. Eren is thankful for the poor security and lack of organisation there.

He tips at least 3 bottles of the acid into the tub, and he has to back away as the corrosive liquid eats away at the plastic, flesh, and rubber. Eren takes extra pains to do this because he is determined to ensure that everything is rendered beyond the powers of modern forensics to retrieve. When everything is reduced to mush, the next part is relatively easy. Eren douses the remains with gasoline from a nearby can he has prepared some time ago and sets everything alight.

This is the part where he feels most at peace for some reason. Watching the evidence of Levi's crime burn away is liberating, and Eren feels like he's just completed a very important task. He's protected Levi, again. And he will continue to do so, no matter what Levi does, Eren will cover it for him, because like himself, Levi is also alone. Two people who have no one, but only themselves to rely on. That's what Eren likes to think.

It's not love, but dependency.

When the fire dies down, Eren selects the discarded shovel that he's always used to dispose of the charred ashes from a hidden nook in an overturned cement mixer. He shovels the ashes into a pile of sand, soil and rocks left by the workmen, mixing it until nothing can be told apart.

Satisfied, Eren wipes the sweat from his brow, erases any traces of shoe prints on the dusty ground, before heading back to the apartment building.

He will then proceed to clean up the sink and replace the empty bottles of hand-soap with new ones that he secretly buys with Levi's money. He will also take a shower next, and while at it, he'll wash away the traces of blood left by Levi. He's really looking forward to getting into bed and snuggling up to Levi who is most likely asleep right now, and who will revert back to the normal Levi tomorrow.

Eren is content to return to what he has now, until he's once again awoken by the sound of the tap turned on to full blast in the kitchen, and repeats this strange duty he has given himself — to protect what is his.

Eren plans to scrub the kitchen later.

After all, Levi did seem to be bothered by the bug that is apparently, constantly around him.

A bug that Eren can't see.

/


End file.
